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Abstract:

Embodiments of the invention include a merchant offer program
application, which is downloaded onto a customer computer, and that works
in connection with the customer's accounts at an institution. The
merchant offer program application monitors the websites that the
customer views, as well as the content the customer is viewing on those
websites, such as the products offered for sale through the website or
other information on the website. The merchant offer program provides
additional information to the customer, such as special offers that are
available for the product being viewed, the identity of other merchants
that offer the product or a competing product, advertisements or offers
regarding other ancillary products typically sold along with the product
being considered, etc. The information sent to the customer can be based
not only on the website product being viewed, but on the customer's past
purchase behavior, account balances, interests, etc.

Claims:

1. A system for providing merchant offers comprising: a memory device; a
communication device; and a processing device operatively coupled to the
memory device and the communication device, wherein the processing device
is configured to execute computer-readable program code to: receive
content information related to a search performed by a customer; access
account information for the customer from an institution; determine an
offer for the customer based at least in part on the content information
received related to the search performed by the customer and the account
information from the institution; and provide the offer to the customer
at a customer computer system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the account information is customer
transaction information from a customer account at the institution.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the account information is customer
profile information from a customer account at the institution.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the account information is relationship
information from a customer account at the institution related to the
relationship the customer has with the institution or a merchant that is
providing a product associated with the offer.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device configured to
execute computer-readable program code to determine the offer for the
customer is also based at least in part on the relationship the
institution has with a merchant that is providing the product associated
with the offer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the content information related to the
search comprises a category or a search term in which the customer is
interested.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the content information related to the
search comprises a product type, a product name, a brand, a merchant, a
manufacturer, an industry, or a location.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device is further
configured to execute computer-readable program code to cause the
processing device to: rank the offers when more than one offer is
determined based at least in part on the content information received
related to the search performed by the customer.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the rank of the offers are determined
based at least in part on price, location, merchant, savings,
alphanumerically, search history, purchase history, or customer rating.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the offers are determined
based at least in part on agreements the institution has with merchants
that provide products associated with the offers.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the agreements relate to fees paid by
the merchants to the institution or products the merchants obtain from
the institution.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the offers are determined
based at least in part on the customer's current location.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the offers are determined
based at least in part on transaction histories the customer has with the
merchants.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the offers are determined
based at least in part on a social networking feature that ranks the
offers based on the preferences of other customers of the institution.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranks of the offers are determined
based at least in part on input from the customer.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the institution is a financial
institution.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the processing device configured to
execute the computer-readable program code comprises executing the
computer-readable program code of a merchant offer program application.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the merchant
offer program application is stored in a first memory device associated
with the institution; and wherein the processing device configured to
execute the computer-readable program code of the portion of the merchant
offer program application stored in the first memory device associated
with the institution is a first processing device associated with the
institution.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least a portion of the
merchant offer program application is stored in a second memory device
associated with the customer computer system; and wherein the processing
device configured to execute the computer-readable program code of the
portion of the merchant offer program application stored in the second
memory device associated with the customer computer is a second
processing device associated with the customer computer.

20. A computer program product for a merchant offer program system
operated through a financial institution, the computer program product
comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having
computer-readable program code portions embodied therein, the
computer-readable program code portions comprising: an executable portion
configured for receiving content information related to a search
performed by a customer; an executable portion configured for accessing
account information for the customer from an institution; an executable
portion configured for determining an offer for the customer based at
least in part on the content information received related to the search
performed by the customer and the account information from the
institution; and an executable portion configured for providing the offer
to the customer at a customer computer system.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the account
information is customer transaction information from a customer account
at the institution.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the account
information is customer profile information from a customer account at
the institution.

23. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the account
information is relationship information from a customer account at the
institution related to the relationship the customer has with the
institution or a merchant that is providing a product associated with the
offer.

24. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the executable
portion configured for determining the offer for the customer is also
based at least in part on the relationship the institution has with a
merchant that is providing the product associated with the offer.

25. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the content
information related to the search comprises a category or a search term
in which the customer is interested.

26. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the content
information related to the search comprises a product type, a product
name, a brand, a merchant, a manufacturer, an industry, or a location.

27. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the
computer-readable program code portions further comprise: an executable
portion for ranking the offers when more than one offer is determined
based at least in part on the content information received related to the
search performed by the customer.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on price, location,
merchant, savings, alphabetically, alphanumerically, search history,
score, or customer rating.

29. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on agreements the
institution has with merchants that provide products associated with the
offers.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the agreements
relate to fees paid by the merchants to the institution or products the
merchants obtain from the institution.

31. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on the customer's current
location.

32. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on transaction histories the
customer has with the merchants.

33. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on a social networking
feature that ranks the offers based on the preferences of other customers
of the institution.

34. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the ranks of the
offers are determined based at least in part on input from the customer.

35. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the institution is
a financial institution.

36. A method for providing merchant offers, the method comprising:
receiving content information related to a search performed by a
customer; accessing account information for the customer from an
institution; determining an offer for the customer based at least in part
on the content information received related to the search performed by
the customer and the account information from the institution, through
the use of a processing device; and providing the offer to the customer
at a customer computer system.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the account information is customer
transaction information from a customer account at the institution.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the account information is customer
profile information from a customer account at the institution.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the account information is
relationship information from a customer account at the institution
related to the relationship the customer has with the institution or a
merchant that is providing a product associated with the offer.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein determining the offer for the
customer is also based at least in part on the relationship the
institution has with a merchant that is providing the product associated
with the offer.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein the content information related to
the search comprises a category or a search term in which the customer is
interested.

42. The method of claim 36, wherein the content information related to
the search comprises a product type, a product name, a brand, a merchant,
a manufacturer, an industry, or a location.

43. The method of claim 36, wherein the method further comprises: ranking
the offers when more than one offer is determined based at least in part
on the content information received related to the search performed by
the customer.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on price, location, merchant, savings,
alphabetically, alphanumerically, search history, score, or customer
rating.

45. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on agreements the institution has with
merchants that provide products associated with the offers.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the agreements relate to fees paid by
the merchants to the institution or products the merchants obtain from
the institution.

47. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on the customer's current location.

48. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on transaction histories the customer
has with the merchants.

49. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on a social networking feature that
ranks the offers based on the preferences of other customers of the
institution.

50. The method of claim 43, wherein the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on input from the customer.

51. The method of claim 36, wherein the institution is a financial
institution.

[0002] This invention relates generally to providing customized offers
(i.e. discounts), product content, or other information about goods or
services in which consumers have an interest, as well as available
payment options for purchasing the goods or services. More particularly,
embodiments of the invention relate to apparatuses and methods for
searching currently available offers (i.e. discounts) by good, service,
merchant, type, brand, manufacturer, etc. The application utilizes the
search terms from a consumer's search and consumer account information to
develop and provide offers (i.e. discounts), product content, or other
information that is customized based on goods or services searched by
consumers and, further provides, access to various sources of payment
that each consumer has available to pay for any selected goods or
services.

BACKGROUND

[0003] The advent of the Internet has provided merchants with new channels
for reaching customers and providing information, advertising, and offers
related to their goods or services. However, sales and marketing
campaigns are often not as effective as they might be, because they
provide the customer information, advertisements, or offers about which
the customer is not interested, or alternatively provide the customer
information, advertisements, or offers about which the customer is
interested at the wrong time. The Internet, likewise, provides customers
with the ability to quickly locate information about goods or services in
which they are interested, and to purchase those goods or services,
without leaving their computer. However, customers who shop online often
cannot find the exact good or service that they want, fail to find what
they want at a price that they find attractive, or fail to utilize
discounts that are available for the goods or services. These scenarios
result in merchant discounts or promotions that are not being utilized,
or in customers not receiving the benefit of such merchant discounts or
promotions. There is a need to develop apparatuses and methods to
facilitate customers finding targeted sales and marketing offers provided
by merchants, as well as receiving payment options and information for
making purchasing decisions for goods and services.

BRIEF SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present invention address the above needs and/or
achieve other advantages by providing apparatuses (e.g., a system,
computer program product, and/or other device), methods, or a combination
of the foregoing for a merchant offer program application that integrates
merchant offers related to goods and/or services (hereinafter "products")
with customer shopping activities, sources of payment, and settlement of
accounts.

[0005] Financial institutions have large amounts of customer data because
they maintain or administer various financial accounts (i.e. credit card
account, checking account, savings account, etc.) of their customers and
they store data related to purchases made by their customers. Financial
institutions track and store data related to what products customers
purchased, when their customers made the purchases, how much the
customers spent, what merchants the customers used to make the purchases,
etc. for both online and offline purchases. Furthermore, financial
institutions also have direct ties with many different merchants, which
use the financial institutions for their own financial needs. Due to the
relationships financial institutions have with both customers and
merchants, as well as the data that they capture because of those
relationships, financial institutions are uniquely positioned to
facilitate merchants in providing targeted sales and marketing offers to
customers at the time of purchase, as well as to provide customers with
payment options and information (i.e. balances) for making purchasing
decisions for products.

[0006] Generally, one embodiment of the invention comprises a merchant
offer program application, which is downloaded onto a customer computer
by the customer, and works in connection with the customer's accounts at
an institution. When the institution is a financial institution the
merchant offer program is a financial-institution based merchant offer
program that works in connection with the customer's financial accounts,
such as the customer's online banking account. However, such a
financial-institution based merchant offer program is described generally
herein as the merchant offer program. The merchant offer program
application runs on the customer's computer and monitors the websites
that the customer views, as well as the content the customer is viewing
on those websites, such as the products offered for sale through the
website or other information on the website. Information about the
websites, such as but not limited to products thereon, is relayed back to
a central processor that locates information about the websites (i.e.
products) and sends that information back to the customer. The
information can include special offers that are available for the product
being viewed, the identity of other merchants that offer the product, or
a competing product, advertisements or offers regarding other ancillary
products typically sold along with the product being considered, etc. The
information sent to the customer can be based not only on the website
product being viewed, but on the customer's past purchase behavior,
account balances, interests, etc. Offers that are communicated may be
offers made available generally by the merchants, offers based on the
institution's relationship with a merchant, etc.

[0007] In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program
application has the capability to allow a customer to search for
available offers related to products based on criteria chosen by the
customer. For instance, the customer can limit her search or weight it
according to the products (i.e. SKU, model, etc.), merchants, product
types, brands, manufacturers, prices, discount prices, locations, etc. in
which the customer is interested or that align with the customer's
interests, financial conditions, etc. The offers provided to the customer
during the search can be customized for each individual user based on the
search terms used by the customer and the customer's profile information,
the customer's transaction history, the relationships between the
financial institution, merchants, and customers, and/or publicly
available discounts. The offers from the search, in some embodiments, are
prioritized or ranked based on the customer's location, transaction
history, profile information, social networking scoring, customer
preferences, etc.

[0008] Once a customer decides to make a purchase, the merchant offer
program application can provide the customer with information about the
customer's various accounts, including, but not limited to, account
balances, credit limit remaining, etc. The customer can decide from the
available options how to pay for the purchase. Moreover, inasmuch as the
merchant offer program application is a financial-institution based
merchant offer program that can run through financial institution, funds
can be transferred to the merchant on a real-time or near real-time
basis.

[0009] The application can also provide the customer with information
relating to warranties on the products purchased, affinity clubs that go
along with the products, the opportunity to rate any products, services,
or merchants, the ability to social network with others who have an
interest in the purchased or considered products, etc.

[0010] Embodiments of the invention relate to systems, methods, and
computer program products for providing merchant offers based on
information received from a search feature. Embodiments of the invention
comprise receiving content information related to a search performed by a
customer; accessing account information for the customer from an
institution; determining an offer for the customer based at least in part
on the content information received related to the search performed by
the customer and the account information from the institution; and
providing the offer to the customer at a customer computer system.

[0011] In further accord with an embodiment of the invention, the account
information is customer transaction information from a customer account
at the institution. In another embodiment of the invention, the account
information is customer profile information from a customer account at
the institution. In still another embodiment of the invention, the
account information is relationship information from a customer account
at the institution related to the relationship the customer has with the
institution or a merchant that is providing a product associated with the
offer. In yet another embodiment of the invention, determining the offer
for the customer is also based at least in part on the relationship the
institution has with a merchant that is providing the product associated
with the offer.

[0012] In further accord with an embodiment of the invention, the content
information related to the search comprises a category or a search term
in which the customer is interested. In another embodiment of the
invention, the content information related to the search comprises a
product type, a product name, a brand, a merchant, a manufacturer, an
industry, or a location.

[0013] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the invention further
comprises ranking the offers when more than one offer is determined based
at least in part on the content information received related to the
search performed by the customer. In still another embodiment of the
invention, the ranks of the offers are determined based at least in part
on price, location, merchant, savings, alphabetically, alphanumerically,
search history, score, or customer rating. In further accord with an
embodiment of the invention, the ranks of the offers are determined based
at least in part on agreements the institution has with merchants that
provide products associated with the offers. In another embodiment of the
invention, the agreements relate to fees paid by the merchants to the
institution or products the merchants obtain from the institution.

[0014] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the ranks of the offers
are determined based at least in part on the customer's current location.
In still another embodiment of the invention, the ranks of the offers are
determined based at least in part on transaction histories the customer
has with the merchants. In further accord with an embodiment of the
invention, the ranks of the offers are determined based at least in part
on a social networking feature that ranks the offers based on the
preferences of other customers of the institution. In another embodiment
of the invention, the ranks of the offers are determined based at least
in part on input from the customer.

[0015] In yet another embodiment of the invention, the institution is a
financial institution.

[0016] In still another embodiment of the invention, the invention is a
merchant offer program application. In further accord with an embodiment
of the invention, at least a portion of the merchant offer program
application is stored in a first memory device associated with the
institution, and the processing device is configured to execute the
computer-readable program code of the portion of the merchant offer
program application stored in the first memory device associated with the
institution is a first processing device associated with the institution.
In further accord with an embodiment of the invention, at least a portion
of the merchant offer program application is stored in a second memory
device associated with the customer computer system, and the processing
device configured to execute the computer-readable program code of the
portion of the merchant offer program application stored in the second
memory device associated with the customer computer is a second
processing device associated with the customer computer.

[0017] The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed
may be achieved independently in various embodiments of the present
invention or may be combined in yet other embodiments, further details of
which can be seen with reference to the following description and
drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Having thus described embodiments of the invention in general
terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are
not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

[0019] FIG. 1 provides a block diagram illustrating a merchant offer
program environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0020]FIG. 2A provides an integrated banking and customer shopping
process, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021]FIG. 2B provides a continuation of the integrated banking and
customer shopping process, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention;

[0022]FIG. 3 provides a web browser and merchant offer program
notification alert, in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0023] FIG. 4 provides a local merchant offer program application
interface, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0024]FIG. 5 provides a local merchant offer program application
interface activated by a customer searching the internet, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025]FIG. 6 provides a product search process for using a search feature
for an integrated payment and customer shopping system, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0026]FIG. 7 illustrates a local merchant offer program application
interface for a search feature, in accordance with an embodiment of the
present invention.

[0027]FIG. 8A provides an online banking account and customer shopping
process in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028]FIG. 8B provides a continuation of the online banking account and
customer shopping process in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0029]FIG. 9 provides an online banking account detail transaction and
offer interface in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention;

[0030] FIG. 10 provides an online banking account detail transaction and
offer interface in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention; and

[0031] FIG. 11 provides an online banking account detail transaction and
offer interface in accordance with an embodiment of the present
invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0032] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described more
fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
some, but not all, embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the
invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be
construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these
embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable
legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Although some embodiments of the invention described herein are generally
described as involving a "financial institution," one of ordinary skill
in the art will appreciate that the invention may be utilized by other
businesses that take the place of or work in conjunction with financial
institutions to perform one or more of the processes or steps described
herein as being performed by a financial institution. For instance, in
some embodiments an entity that acts as a clearing house for offers could
take the place of the financial institution in whole or in part
throughout this application.

[0033] FIG. 1 illustrates a merchant offer program environment 1 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in
FIG. 1, the financial institution's merchant offer program system 3 is
operatively coupled, via a network 2, to one or more customer computer
systems 4 of one or more customers 6, the financial institution's
customer account systems 8, and the merchant systems 9, as well as other
systems at a financial institution, such as systems that maintain and
administer customer accounts, which are not shown. In this way, a
customer 6 located at the customer computer system 4 can receive
information from and send information to the merchant offer program
application 10 located on the financial institution's merchant offer
program system 3 through a local merchant offer program application 11
and/or a web browser application 20, located on the customer computer
system 4 through the network 2.

[0034] The network 2 may be a global area network (GAN), such as the
Internet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or any
other type of network or combination of networks. The network 2 may
provide for wireline, wireless, or a combination of wireline and wireless
communication between devices in the network. In some embodiments of the
invention the network 2 described herein may be a cloud computing
network. Therefore, systems outside of what are described herein may be
utilized to run, store, pass data to, or receive data from at least a
part of the merchant offer program application, local merchant offer
program application, or some other application described herein.

[0035] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the financial institution's merchant
offer program system 3 generally includes a communication device 12, a
processing device 14, and a memory device 16. As used herein, the term
"processing device" generally includes circuitry used for implementing
the communication and/or logic functions of a particular system. For
example, a processing device may include a digital signal processor
device, a microprocessor device, and various analog-to-digital
converters, digital-to-analog converters, and other support circuits
and/or combinations of the foregoing. Control and signal processing
functions of the system are allocated between these processing devices
according to their respective capabilities. The processing device may
include functionality to operate one or more software programs based on
computer-readable instructions thereof, which may be stored in a memory
device.

[0036] The processing device 14 is operatively coupled to the
communication device 12, and the memory device 16. The processing device
14 uses the communication device 12 to communicate with the network 2,
and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, the
customer computer systems 4, the customer account systems 8, and/or the
merchant systems 9, as well as other systems within the financial
institution that are not shown. As such, the communication device 12
generally comprises a modem, server, or other device for communicating
with other devices on the network 2.

[0037] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the financial institution's
merchant offer program system 3 includes computer-readable instructions
18 stored in the memory device 16, which in one embodiment includes the
computer-readable instructions 18 of a merchant offer program application
10. In some embodiments, the memory device 16 includes a datastore 19 for
storing data related to the financial institution's merchant offer
program system 3, including but not limited to data created and/or used
by the merchant offer program application 10.

[0038] As discussed later in greater detail, in one embodiment, the
merchant offer program application 10 stores or receives customer profile
data and data related to offline and online transactions from the account
management applications 30. The merchant offer program application 10
receives data related to customer browsing behavior and returns targeted
offers to the customer 6. Offers include but are not limited to products,
services, discounts, coupons, promotions, add-on sales, up-sells,
rebates, advertisements, marketing information, etc.

[0039] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the customer computer systems 4 can
include a communication device 22, a processing device 24, and a memory
device 26. The processing device 24 is operatively coupled to the
communication device 22 and the memory device 26. The processing device
24 uses the communication device 22 to communicate with the network 2,
and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, the
financial institution's merchant offer program system 3, customer account
systems 8, and/or merchant systems 9, as well as other financial
institution systems not shown. As such, the communication device 22
generally comprises a modem, server, or other device(s) for communicating
with other devices on the network 2, and a display, keypad, mouse,
keyboard, microphone, and/or speakers for communicating with one or more
users. The devices in the network can be personal computers, personal
digital assistants ("PDA"), cell phones, smart phones, etc.

[0040] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the customer computer systems 4
comprise computer-readable program instructions 28 stored in the memory
device 26, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable
instructions 28 of the local merchant offer program application 11 and a
web browser application 20. In some embodiments, the memory device 26
includes a datastore 29 for storing data related to the customer computer
systems 4, including but not limited to data created and/or used by the
local merchant offer program application 11 and/or the web browser
application 20.

[0041] In one embodiment of the invention, the local merchant offer
program application 11 is the part of the merchant offer program
application 10 that resides on the customer computer systems 4. The local
merchant offer program application 11 assists in monitoring websites that
the customer 6 is browsing through the web browser application 20 by
monitoring and sending the information related to the customer's web
browsing to the merchant offer program application 10. In other
embodiments of the invention there is no local merchant offer program
application 11, as such the merchant offer program application 10, which
is located on the financial institution's databases, performs the
functions of the local merchant offer program application 11 and, thus
can interact directly with the web browser application 20 located on the
customer computer systems 4. In other embodiments of the invention there
is no local merchant offer program application 11, as such the merchant
offer program application 10, which is located on the customer computer
system 4, performs the functions of the local merchant offer program
application 11. In still other embodiments of the invention the local
merchant offer program application 11 is a separate application, which is
located on the customer computer system 4, that works in conjunction with
the merchant offer program application 10.

[0042] Throughout this patent the local merchant offer program application
11 is described as the part of the merchant offer program application 10
that resides on the customer computer systems 4; however, it is to be
understood that the apparatuses and methods described herein would work
equally well in the various embodiments of the merchant offer program
application 10 and local merchant offer program application 11 described
above. Regardless of the configuration, the local merchant offer program
application 11 displays offers, determined by the merchant offer program
application 10, related to what the customer is searching to the customer
6 on an interactive graphical user interface (i.e. local interface 400).
The offers can be, among other things, based in part on the data stored
by the merchant offer program application 10 and the customer account
systems 8, including but not limited to customer profile data and
transaction history.

[0043] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the customer account systems 8 generally
include a communication device 32, a processing device 34, and a memory
device 36. The processing device 34 is operatively coupled to the
communication device 32 and the memory device 36. The processing device
34 uses the communication device 32 to communicate with the network 2,
and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, the
merchant offer program system 3, the customer computer systems 4, and/or
the merchant systems 9, as well as other systems at the financial
institution not shown. As such, the communication device 32 generally
comprises a modem, server, or other device(s) for communicating with
other devices on the network 2.

[0044] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the customer account systems 8
comprise computer-readable program instructions 38 stored in the memory
device 36, which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable
instructions 38 of account management applications 30. In some
embodiments, the memory device 36 includes a datastore 39 for storing
data related to the customer account systems 8, including but not limited
to data created and/or used by the account management applications 30.

[0045] The account management applications 30, in one embodiment, are used
to store, process, and monitor the transactions, including but not
limited to, deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and payments, made through
various customer accounts, such as, but not limited to, checking,
savings, credit card, hybrid, deposit, credit line, money market, equity
line, investment, bill payment, transfer, etc. accounts. The account
management applications 30 have the transaction history information for
each of the financial institution's customers, in some cases, for as long
as the customers have had accounts with the bank. The transactions
history information located in the account management applications is
searchable and sortable over different ranges of time. The transaction
information in the account management applications 30 is used by the
merchant offer program application 10, along with other information or
alone, to determine what targeted offers and marketing information should
be sent to the customers 6. In some embodiments of the invention, the
account management applications 30 include online banking applications,
such as an online banking website, which allow a customer 6 to access the
customer's accounts through the Internet.

[0046] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the merchant systems 9 generally
include a communication device 42, a processing device 44, and a memory
device 46. The processing device 44 is operatively coupled to the
communication device 42 and the memory device 46. The processing device
44 uses the communication device 42 to communicate with the network 2,
and other devices on the network 2, such as, but not limited to, the
merchant offer program system 3, customer computer systems 4, and/or
customer account systems 8, as well as other systems at the financial
institution not shown. As such, the communication device 42 generally
comprises a modem, server, or other device(s) for communicating with
other devices on the network 2, and a display, keypad, mouse, keyboard,
microphone, and/or speakers for communicating with one or more users.

[0047] As further illustrated in FIG. 1, the merchant systems 9 comprise
computer-readable program instructions 48 stored in the memory device 46,
which in one embodiment includes the computer-readable instructions 48 of
merchant applications 40. In some embodiments, the memory device 46
includes a datastore 49 for storing data related to the merchant systems
9, including but not limited to data created and/or used by the merchant
applications 40.

[0048] The merchant applications 40, in one embodiment, are used to
generate, store, process, and/or monitor the offers made directly to
customer computer systems 4 over the network 2 or indirectly though the
merchant offer program system 3.

[0049] In other embodiments of the invention, the merchant offer program
environment 1 will include other systems in the financial institution
that are connected over the network 2. In some embodiments of the
invention, the other systems within the financial institution could
include transaction processing systems such as check image processing, or
online account processing systems. These other systems can work in
conjunction with the merchant offer program system 3, or supplement
and/or enhance the merchant offer program system 3.

[0050] FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate one embodiment of an integrated payment
and customer shopping process 200 that describes how a customer 6
utilizes the merchant offer program environment 1 to search for offers on
the Internet or in retail stores, receive offers related to the offers
the customer 6 is searching, receive offers related to web-based content
that the customer is accessing, and accept one or more of the offers
using various forms of payment. In order to utilize the merchant offer
program environment 1 the customer 6, in some embodiments, downloads the
local merchant offer program application 11 to the customer computer
system 4, as illustrated in block 202 of FIG. 2. In some embodiments the
customer computer system 4 is a computer, such as a laptop, desktop, or
tablet computer, Internet television, or other electronic or digital
medium device, in other embodiments the customer computer system 4 may be
a mobile device, such as a PDA, cell phone, smart phone, Internet-only
computer, or any other device that has Internet browsing capability.

[0051] Once the local merchant offer program application 11 is downloaded
to the customer computer system 4, in some embodiments it will run by
communicating constantly with the merchant offer program application 10
located on the merchant offer program system 3. In other embodiments, the
customer 6 has the ability to turn the merchant offer program application
10 on and off. In still other embodiments of the invention, the customer
6 will be required to authenticate herself as the customer before using
the local merchant offer program application 11 and merchant offer
program application 10. Authentication is required in some embodiments,
when the merchant offer program application 10 communicates with the
customer's private customer account information located on the customer
account systems 8 at the financial institution. As explained in greater
detail below, the merchant offer program application 10 accesses the
customer's account information in order to display to the customer 6,
through the local merchant offer program application 11, the customer's
balances for the accounts that the customer can use to pay for purchases
made through the merchant offer program environment 1. Moreover, when the
customer 6 makes a purchase through the merchant offer program
application 10, the merchant offer program application 10 accesses the
customer's account through the customer's online banking accounts and/or
the customer account systems 8 in order to make real-time or near
real-time transactions between the customer 6 and the merchant.

[0052] The customer 6 in some embodiments may perform the authentication
when downloading the local merchant offer program application 11, when
the customer 6 wants to use the local merchant offer program application
11, or only when the customer 6 decides to make a purchase. Generally, in
exemplary embodiments, the local merchant offer program application 11
runs on the customer computer system 4 at all times, and the customer
only authenticates herself when the customer wants to view the identified
offers or purchase something through the offers supplied by the merchant
offer program application 10.

[0053] As illustrated in block 204 of FIG. 2A, the customer 6 searches the
Internet for content, such as products or other information located on
websites. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the customer 6 may be
searching for a forty-six inch LCD television made by Company A. Block
206 in FIG. 2A illustrates that as the customer 6 is searching for a
particular product (i.e. the Company A TV), the merchant offer program
application 10 communicates with the web browser application 20 that the
customer is using, in order to determine what offers or other content the
customer 6 is viewing through the web browser application 20. As
illustrated in block 208 in FIG. 2A the local merchant offer program
application 11 transfers the information related to the content the
customer is viewing back to the merchant offer program application 10.

[0054] In some embodiments of the invention, the content the customer is
viewing that is captured by the merchant offer program application 10, is
not limited to content the customer is viewing through a web browser
application 20 on a customer computer system 4. The content can be
related to any digital channel to which the customer 6 has access, such
as but not limited to interactive voice response ("IVR") units, video
being displayed on a television through a network, programs viewed by the
customer on the television, content displayed by an automated teller
machine ("ATM"), content displayed on electronic billboards, etc. The
content used by the merchant offer program application 10, can be any
content that the merchant offer program application can capture 10
through a digital medium. For example, the customer 6 may not even be
able to visually view the content captured by the merchant offer program
application through a digital medium.

[0055] In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 does not have
to search the Internet for offers in order for the merchant offer program
application 10 to gather information related to offers in which the
customer 6 is interested. For example, if the local merchant offer
program application 11 is downloaded on a mobile device, such as a PDA,
cell phone, smart phone, etc., the local merchant offer program
application 11 can relay information to the merchant offer program
application 10 about the physical location of the customer through
location determining devices, such as global positioning satellite
("GPS") or radio frequency ("RF") locator systems in the mobile device.
The merchant offer program application 10 can then provide offers or
information that are relevant to the customer's physical location, such
as offers applicable to the store in which the customer is located,
offers at other stores in close proximity, offers that can be purchased
over the mobile device, etc.

[0056] In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 can use the
mobile device to identify information related to an offer at a physical
store. For example, information about a product can be captured by
capturing an image of the product, scanning an identifier (i.e. barcode
or UPC number) located on the product into the mobile device, and/or
entering an identifier or keyword related to a product through a
keyboard, touchscreen, or voice command. The merchant offer program
application gathers the information related to the offer through the
local merchant offer program application 11, which, as explained in
greater detail below, provides the customer 6 with related offers or
information on the customer's mobile device.

[0057] In some embodiments of the invention, a customer can use a mobile
device to make a purchase through the actual point-of-sale applications
at the store in which the customer is located. In some embodiments of the
invention, a mobile device that is configured with a payment system, such
as a near field communication ("NFC") payment system or other payment
system, can use the system to make a purchase through the local merchant
offer program application 11 downloaded on the mobile device. The
purchase, in some embodiments, takes into account real time discounts,
e-Coupons, etc. available through the merchant offer program application
10, as discussed in further detail later. The customer's account can be
updated in real-time or near real-time to reflect the most recent
transactions using a mobile device for payment.

[0058] After receiving information related to what offers or other content
the customer 6 is currently viewing or searching, in some embodiments,
the merchant offer program application 10 analyzes the customer's past
transaction purchasing history, and the customer's profile information to
determine one or more offers to present to the customer 6 through the
local merchant offer program application 11, as illustrated by block 210
in FIG. 2A. The merchant offer program application 10 analyzes the
customer's past purchasing history and the customer's profile
information, in part, from the account management applications 30, which
store the histories of purchases made by the customer online and offline
(i.e. brick and mortar stores).

[0059] In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institution may
have a relationship with other financial institutions, credit card
providers, Internet shopping services, etc., in order to gather more
transactional data related to the customer's purchase history when the
customer 6 makes transactions with other business accounts, credit cards,
etc., in addition to the data that the financial institution maintains.
In other embodiments the customer 6 can upload the transaction histories
of transactions made with other financial institution accounts, credit
cards, etc. by authorizing the financial institution to reach out and
pull (or be pushed) data related to transactions from other accounts. For
example, the customer 6 can provide the financial institution the account
number and password to other online banking systems, online credit card
statements, etc. and the financial institution can pull transaction
information from those accounts. This additional information can be also
be used to provide the customer 6 more payment options, from outside
accounts, to use in completing the transaction.

[0060] In other embodiments of the invention the customer can log onto the
customer's own merchant offer program account in the merchant offer
program application 10, or other account management application 30 to
provide or enter customized profile information. For example, the
customer 6 can request specific types of offers, such as specific
products, discounts, or advertisements in which the customer 6 is
interested on a wish list, which is explained in further detail below. In
other embodiments of the invention the customer 6 can provide profile
information, which allows the merchant offer program application 10 to
provide more personalized offers to each individual customer 6. For
example, the profile information could include, but is not limited to,
places the customer 6 likes to shop, hobbies in which the customer is
interested, specific offers or merchants from whom the customer 6 does or
does not want to receive offers from, etc.

[0061] The offers identified by the merchant offer program application 10
in block 210 and provided to the customer 6 through local merchant offer
program application 11, are determined in a number of ways. In exemplary
embodiments, the financial institution will have in place arrangements
with merchants that allow the financial institution to provide certain
products to customers through the merchant offer program application 10
at discounted prices. The financial institution will display the various
products that are the subject of a discount coupon, rebate, reward, etc.
The products will normally be displayed with the items carrying the
greatest discount, coupon, rebate, reward, etc. first. The discount,
coupon, rebate, reward, etc. can be the merchant's normal offer or can be
the subject of a separate arrangement with the financial institution. In
other embodiments, the merchant may pay a fee to the financial
institution per month, week, etc., or a flat fee, etc., in exchange for
the financial institution showing one or more of the merchant offers to
customers 6. The size of discounts provided, and in some embodiments the
fees paid by merchants, can be based on the number of hits the
offer/website of the merchant receives, the number times the offer is
displayed, the number of customer who accept the offer by making a
purchase, and/or the rank of the offer, etc. In some embodiments of the
invention the merchant may not offer the product at a discount, but
instead the financial institution may subsidize the offer by providing
the discount itself. In this instance, the financial institution would
pay the merchant the full price of the product at the time of sale, but
debit the customer account a discounted price or rebate the customers at
some future point in time. The financial institution could make up for
the discounts by charging the merchants a fee to display the offer to the
customer 6 or by taking payments from the merchant for all of the
discounts on offers provided within a certain time period.

[0062] Therefore, in some embodiments of the invention, either the
merchant or the financial institution will offer customized discounts for
each customer 6, which are based in part on the customer's profile data
and the customer's transaction history information. As previously
discussed the customer profile information could include what accounts
the customer 6 has at the financial institution (checking, savings,
equity line, etc.), as well as what services the customer 6 uses (such as
financial planners, wealth management, etc.). The customer transaction
history information could include the purchases the customer 6 has made
at various stores, the costs of the purchases, time of year and day they
were made, the accounts used to pay for the purchases, etc. In some
embodiments, the more products the merchant uses with the financial
institution the greater the discount will be, the more accounts and
services the customer 6 uses at the financial institution the greater the
discount will be, and the more the customer 6 spends with a particular
merchant the greater the discounts will be for that merchant.

[0063] The merchant offer program application 10 can determine the
products the customer 6 has with the financial institution through the
customer profile information, and can use that information as a basis for
making offers available to that customer 6. The products include but are
not limited to, how many accounts the customer has, the amount of money
in those accounts, any loans the customer 6 has with the financial
institution, any financial services the customer 6 uses, the net present
value of the customer with the financial institution, etc. In one
embodiment, the more products the customer 6 uses from the financial
institution the greater the discount will be. These factors can also be
combined with the customer's relationship with various merchants to
determine what offers to make available to the customer 6. For example,
the merchant offer program application 10 can identify from the
customer's transaction history what types of products the customer 6 has
purchased from various merchants in the previous week, month, six months,
year, etc. The size of the discounts the customer 6 receives based on the
customer's relationship with the merchants may be based on the purchases
made by the customer 6 with the merchant, and may vary in real-time or
near real time each time a purchase is made or not made. For example, a
merchant in some embodiments may want to offer greater discounts to a
customer 6 who has not purchased anything in a while in order to try to
generate new business. In other embodiments, a merchant may want to
reward a loyal customer 6 in order to promote additional purchases.
Therefore, in some embodiments the more the customer 6 has purchased in
the past, the greater the customer's discount will be.

[0064] For example, the financial institution may have relationships with
both Company B and Company C. A specific TV offered through the merchant
offer program application 10 by Company C may sell for ten (10) dollars
less than the same TV offered through Company B, based on the financial
institution's arrangements it has made with both merchants. However, when
the customer 6 is searching for a specific TV (or TVs in general), the
financial institution may identify the transactions the customer 6 has
made with both businesses, by examining the transaction history
information that the financial institution has. If the financial
institution, for example, identifies that the customer 6 purchased
two-thousand (2,000) dollars in products from Company B in the previous
year, the terms of the relationship between the financial institution and
Company B may dictate that the financial institution will offer the TV
for one-hundred (100) dollars off of the typical price of the TV.
Therefore, the customer 6 receives a more attractive price than she would
have received because of the customer's 6 relationship with the financial
institution and/or the merchant.

[0065] In other embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program
application 10, provides member offers, such as a list of product
discounts, which are offered to all customers 6 of the merchant offer
program environment 1. In still other embodiments of the invention, the
merchant offer program application 10, provides public offers, such as a
list of product discounts that are offered by the merchant to anyone in
the public, not just members of the merchant offer program environment 1.
Furthermore, customized offers, member offers, or public offers are
provided by the merchant offer program application 10 and displayed
through the local merchant offer program application 11.

[0066] When the merchant offer program application 10 identifies an offer
for the customer 6, the local merchant offer program application 11 will
notify the customer 6 of the offer, as illustrated by block 212 in FIG.
2A. In one embodiment for example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, a
notification indicator 304, such as a dollar sign or other icon or
indicator, could appear in the bottom of the web browser that the
customer is using to view the merchant's website. In other embodiments,
the notification indicator 304 could appear in the tool bar at the top or
bottom of the web browser or computer screen display, or in other areas
of the web browser or computer screen. The dollar sign, or other icon or
notification indicator 304, signals to the customer 6 that the merchant
offer program application 10 identified an offer in which the customer 6
may be interested that could save the customer 6 money. The offer may be
relevant to a product the customer is viewing, it may be responsive to a
wish list item, it may be based on just the customer's transaction
history and/or profile information, etc.

[0067] As illustrated in blocks 214 and 216 of FIG. 2B, when the customer
6 selects the notification indicator 304, a pop-up window, such as a
local interface 400, or other display is provided on the computer screen,
or other device, illustrating the offers identified by the merchant offer
program application 10 as shown in FIG. 4. In some embodiments of the
invention the customer 6 does not need to select the indicator to view
the local interface 400. In some embodiments, the local interface 400
automatically pops-up on the screen when the merchant offer program
application 10 identifies an offer. In other embodiments of the
invention, when an offer is identified the offer appears within the
web-browser or web-browser page that the customer 6 was viewing.

[0068] The pop-up window, such as the local interface 400, provides the
customer 6 with offers related to products, or content that the customer
6 is currently viewing at an Internet website of a merchant, products
listed on the customer's wish list, or products of interest to the
customer 6 based on the customer's transaction history and/or customer
profile. The offers provided to the customer 6 in the window reflect
offers, prices, and discounts from the current merchant or other
merchants in which the customer 6 may be interested. The offers can be
ranked based on various factors, such as but not limited to the discounts
offered, agreements between the merchants and the financial institutions,
etc. The offers, in some embodiments will include links, such as to the
merchant's web pages, which provide more information about the relevant
offers.

[0069] As illustrated in FIG. 5, in an exemplary embodiment of the
invention, the local merchant offer program application interface 400 has
two sections, the accounts section 410, and the offers section 430. The
accounts section 410 illustrates the available balances the customer 6
has in each of the customer's accounts. The merchant offer program
application 10 communicates with the local merchant offer program
application 11 and the account management applications 30 in the customer
account systems 8 to determine and display the account balances in the
local interface 400. Other sections that contain other types of
information, for instance the customer's monthly budget, etc. can also be
displayed in the local interface 400.

[0070] The offer section 430, in some embodiments, displays the other
retailers 432 that can offer the same or similar product, the offer
description 434 illustrating what the offer is (the same product or a
similar one), the percent savings 436, and the actual dollar amount
savings 438. In other embodiments of the invention the offer section 430,
another section, or a separate tab displays related or add-on products in
which the customer 6 may be interested. For example, if a customer is
searching for a forty-six inch LCD TV the customer may also be interested
in DVD players, or services such as satellite TV. In one embodiment of
the invention, a "see related offers" section button 440 or tab is
selected by the customer 6 in order to view any related offers identified
by the merchant offer program application 10, as illustrated in FIG. 5.
However, in some embodiments the related offers are displayed in the
offer section 430 along with the product for which the customer 6 is
searching. In still other embodiments of the invention, the local
merchant offer program application interface 400 has an advertisement
section 450 that displays one or more targeted advertisements to a
customer 6 based on the customer's previous purchasing history, customer
profile information, and/or website content that the customer 6 is
currently viewing.

[0071] As illustrated by block 218 in FIG. 2B, in some embodiments the
local interface 400 provides links to websites that contain additional
information about the products that are the subject of the offers or
related offers in the offers section 430. The customer 6 selects the
offer and is then taken to a website, such as the merchant's website,
other website, or a display in the local interface 400, which provides
more information about the savings provided by the offers. Block 220 in
FIG. 2B illustrates that the customer can select the original offer that
the customer 6 located or one of the replacements offers that the
merchant offer program application 10 identified and displayed to the
customer 6.

[0072] As illustrated the by block 222 in FIG. 2B the customer 6 can also
purchase related products in addition to, or in lieu of, the originally
located products or replacement products displayed by the merchant offer
program application 10.

[0073] In some embodiments, the customer 6 will have to authenticate
herself in order for the merchant offer program application 10 to
communicate with the account management applications 30, such as the
customer's online banking accounts, in order to display the customer's
real-time account balances. In other embodiments of the invention, the
merchant offer program application 10 estimates the customer's account
balances based on what the balances were the last time the customer 6
made a purchase or authenticated herself. In some embodiments of the
invention, the local interface 400 displays the account balances for the
customer's checking account 412, savings account 414, credit card account
416, and any reward points 418 that the customer has accumulated. In
still other embodiments, after the customer 6 makes purchases, the
account balances displayed in the local interface 400 are updated in
real-time in order to show the customer 6 how much money the customer 6
has available in each of her accounts.

[0074] In other embodiments of the invention, if the customer 6 grants
access, the local merchant offer program application 11 can also display
the account information, such as balances, of other accounts or credit
cards maintained by outside financial institutions. In these embodiments,
the financial institution may have a relationship with the outside
financial institutions and/or the customer 6 has supplied the merchant
offer program application 10 with access to the outside accounts (i.e. by
providing the sign in and password information for online banking
services).

[0075] After the customer 6 selects the products she wants to purchase,
either through the Internet or at a physical store, the merchant offer
program application 10 assists the customer in determining how she wants
to pay for the products. As illustrated by block 224 in FIG. 2B the
customer 6 selects from which account or multiple accounts the customer 6
wants to pay for the offer selected. In some embodiments of the invention
the customer's preference for paying for an offer from a particular
account or set of accounts is stored in the customer profile information
in the merchant offer program application 10, and in such circumstances,
the predetermined preference acts as a default. In some embodiments of
the invention, the necessary financial and shipping information is
pre-populated at check-out when the customer 6 makes a purchase. In other
embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 is prompted at checkout as
to how the customer wants to pay for the products selected. In such
embodiments, a list of the customer's accounts is provided in the local
interface 400 or in another pop-up window. While the financial
institution will pay the merchant the full amount of the offers or the
discounted amounts, in some embodiments the customer can tell the
financial institution how to apply the cost of the products to the
customer's accounts. For example, the customer for one purchase may
indicate that she wants to pay 20% from her checking account and 80% from
her savings account. The amounts and the various accounts can be changed
for every purchase made. The decision of what account or accounts are
used to make payments can be made in some embodiments at the time of
purchase. In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 has a
period of time to determine what account or accounts are debited. In such
embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 logs into her online
banking, merchant offer program, or other account and, either at the time
of purchase or at some later time, associates particular transactions and
transaction amounts with particular accounts.

[0076] In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institution
effectively becomes a clearing house for any of the transactions made
between the customer 6 and the merchant. After the customer 6
authenticates herself as an actual customer of the financial institution,
in some embodiments the financial institution guarantees payment to the
merchant for the products. The financial institution is able to determine
in each instance whether it wants to assume the risk for the transaction
based on information the financial institution has for each of its
customers. This is a benefit over independent credit card issuers because
these companies do not know the financial well-being of one their
customers outside of the customers' credit card balances, payment
histories, and/or credit score. In this respect, the merchant offer
program application 10 can be utilized to help customers from over
spending their means and can assist the financial institution in managing
risks attendant to extending consumer credit.

[0077] The actual purchase of the selected products from the merchant
through the merchant offer program environment 1 is achieved in a number
of ways. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the links for
particular offers in the local interface 400 take the user to the
merchant's secure website. However, in other embodiments of the
invention, the links take the customer 6 to the public merchant website
and the financial institution can pre-populate the account information,
as well as the mailing information. In other embodiments of the
invention, the account information can be a preapproved single use
account number provided by the financial institution, which ties the
customer 6 to the customer's accounts at the financial institution,
without disclosing the customer's real account information to the
merchant. In those instances where the financial institution has a
pre-existing relationship with the applicable merchant, the transaction
that takes place can be virtually instantaneous. The financial
institution can credit the account of the merchant, if the merchant has
an account at the financial institution, or in other embodiments of the
invention, the financial institution can electronically transfer the
money to the merchant. Alternatively, the financial institution can
credit the merchant for the customer's purchase on a schedule that is
prearranged and agreed to by the financial institution and merchant.

[0078] After the payment method is satisfied, either the customer 6 or the
financial institution can transfer the shipping address of the customer 6
to the merchant for shipping the product or providing the service. In
lieu of the merchant shipping a product to the customer 6, the customer 6
can pick-up the product at the store. Alternatively, if the customer is
making the purchase at a brick and mortar location the customer 6 can
simply pick-up the product when purchased.

[0079] In other embodiments of the invention, the financial institution
provides various financing options for the customer 6 to use in paying
for the selected products. For example, the financial institution can
allow the customer to make a purchase from a merchant, but not debit the
customer's account or accounts for 30, 60, 90, etc. days. As is the case
with the amount of discounts provided to various customers 6, different
financing options can be provided to customers depending, in some
embodiments for example, on the customer's standing with the financial
institution and the number of financial of products the customer uses
with the financial institution.

[0080] Likewise, with respect to the financial institution making payments
to a merchant, there are a number of options available to complete the
transition as far as the merchant is concerned. In some embodiments of
the invention, the payment system and process provides settlement options
to the merchant, such as real-time, 3-day, 15-day, etc. The merchants can
be charged different types of fees, or no fees, depending on what payment
options the merchants require. Different options may apply in different
circumstances. For instance, a different settlement option might apply to
different products sold by the merchant depending upon the merchant's
payment obligations to its suppliers. In other embodiments, the payment
options may vary depending upon the merchant's financial situation, need
for cash flows, lines of credit etc. The payment option variables are
monitored electronically by the financial institution, and the
appropriate payment option can be selected automatically based on a
series of rules in the merchant offer program application.

[0081] In some embodiments of the invention the steps in blocks 204 to 224
are repeated every time the customer 6 visits a new web-site, selects a
different product from the web-site the customer 6 is currently viewing,
or when the merchant offer program application 10 identifies a product
for the customer 6 based on the customer's wish list, transaction
history, or customer profile.

[0082] After a customer 6 selects a product, replacement, or add-on to
purchase, the merchant offer program application 10, in some embodiments
of the invention, provides online social networking opportunities. For
example, the customer 6 can rate a specific offer, merchant, or discount
program. In other embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 can
display in the local interface 400 the most popular offers as rated by
other customers who have accepted the offer. Furthermore, in other
embodiments of the invention the customer 6 can suggest to other
customers a purchase or discount, that the customer 6 made, by sending an
e-mail, instant message notification, text message, or other notification
through a messaging service in the merchant offer program application 10
or through other standard messaging formats using the merchant offer
program application 10. In other embodiments of the invention, the
customer may join social networks or groups through the merchant offer
program application 10, which allow the customer 6 and other members of
the groups to receive special offers that only members of the specific
group can receive and use.

[0083] In addition to displaying add-on products, while the customer 6 is
searching for specific products on the Internet, the merchant offer
program application 10 will also make add-on product suggestions after
the customer has purchased a product through the merchant offer program
application 10. In some embodiments of the invention some types of
add-ons can only be made after a particular offer is accepted and
purchased by the customer 6. For example, an extended warranty for a
particular product such as a forty-six inch Company A television offered
through a merchant is only available for purchase through that merchant
if the actual product is purchased through that merchant. These
additional add-ons, in some embodiments, can be displayed to the customer
6 through the local merchant offer program application interface 400,
after the customer 6 has purchased a particular product. In other
embodiments of the invention the add-ons are sent to the customer 6
though e-mail, text message, instant message, or other like form of
communication. In other embodiments of the invention, some add-ons are
provided by the merchant offer program application 10 and are based, in
part, on product type. For example, when a blue-ray DVD player is
purchased the add-ons will include Blue-ray DVDs as opposed to regular
DVDs, because the customer would not likely want Blue-ray DVDs if she
purchased a regular DVD player.

[0084] In some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program
application 10 has a search feature that allows a customer to search for
available offers, through the local merchant offer program application
11, by product (i.e. SKU, model, etc.), merchant, product type, brand,
manufacturer, price, discount price, location, etc. The discounts
provided to the customer 6 during the search can be customized for each
individual user based on relationships between the financial institution
and merchants, the customer's profile information, the customer's
transaction history, and/or publicly available discounts. The offers from
the search, in some embodiments, are prioritized based on the customer's
location, transaction history, profile information, etc.

[0085]FIG. 6 illustrates a product search process in which a customer 6
utilizes a search feature made available by a financial institution
through the local merchant offer program application 11 to find the
products in which the customer 6 is interested. In some embodiments the
search results are returned based on parameters chosen by the customer,
such as the lowest price, greatest savings, particular manufacturer or
merchant, best rated, highest score related to the search, etc. A
customer 6 can utilize the search feature when she wants to search for
offers related to specific products, stores, locations, etc. as opposed
to receiving offers from the merchant offer program application 10 based
on the content she is viewing over the Internet.

[0086]FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of the local search interface
700. The local search interface 700 has a search section 710 and a
results section 720. The search section 710, in one embodiment, allows a
user to search through a "By" section 712 and a "Terms" section 714. The
"By" section 712 allows a customer 6 to search by different categories,
including but not limited to, product type (SKU, name, model), merchant,
location, search all, etc. The "Terms" section 714 allows a customer to
enter keywords related to the search the customer wants to perform. The
local search interface 700 also has a results section 720, which, in one
embodiment displays the results of the customer's search by merchant 722,
item 724, type 726, location 728, and price 730. In other embodiments of
the local search interface 700 the results of the customer's search can
include other information, such as, discount percentages, search score,
etc.

[0087] As illustrated by block 602 of FIG. 6, the customer 6 can choose
the parameters on which her search is based by selecting a category in
the "By" section 712 of the search section 710. The customer also enters
keywords into the "Terms" section 714 related to the products in which
the customer is interested, such as but not limited to product name,
merchant, industry, product numbers (SKU or bar code), bar code scan,
product type, brand, manufacturer, etc. For example, the customer 6 could
select "all" (searches all categories) in the By section 712 and enter in
the Terms section 714 an SKU number, "forty-six inch TV," "TV", or
Company A, to search for products related to a specific TV, forty-six
inch TVs, TVs in general, or Company A electronics.

[0088] As illustrated by block 604 the local merchant offer program
application 11 will communicate with the merchant offer program
application 10 located on the merchant offer program system 3 to send the
customer's search terms to the merchant offer program application 10. In
other embodiments the customer 6 can set up re-occurring automatic
searches to periodically or consistently retrieve and monitor products in
which the customer 6 might be interested.

[0089] After the merchant offer program application 10 receives the search
terms related to the products in which the customer 6 is interested, the
merchant offer program application 10 searches for and/or determines
offers in the merchant offer program database, or in some embodiments on
the Internet in general, related to the customer's search terms, as
illustrated by block 606. In order to provide the customer with offers,
in some embodiments, the merchant offer program application 10 (e.g.,
through the use of an analyzer engine) first determines the customized
offers for which the customer 6 qualifies. As previously described with
respect to block 210 in FIG. 2A, in some embodiments the merchant offer
program application 10 will examine what content the customer is viewing
on the web and accesses the customer's profile information, transaction
history, wish list, physical location, relationships with the financial
institution, the merchant, and/or the financial institution's
relationship with the merchant, etc. before determining and providing the
customer 6 with offers related to the content in which the customer 6 is
interested or in which the customer 6 is currently viewing. In some
embodiments of the search feature, the merchant offer program application
10 uses the parameters and search terms that the customer 6 identified in
the search interface 700, instead of or in conjunction with the content
the customer is viewing over a web browser 20, to determine and provide
the customer 6 with offers related to the customer's 6 search.

[0090] As illustrated in block 608, in some embodiments the merchant offer
program application 10 ranks the results of the search and displays them
to the customer 6 in the results section 720 of the local search
interface 700. The results of the search can be ranked in a number of
different ways. For example, in one embodiment of the invention the
results are ranked by price 730, location 728, merchant 722 (i.e. based
on the fees paid by each merchant, agreements the financial institution
has with the merchants, etc.), or by parameters chosen by the customer 6.
In other embodiments of the invention, the results can be ranked by the
lowest price, by the biggest savings, alphabetically, etc.

[0091] In some embodiments of the invention, the results are ranked based
on agreements the financial institution has with the merchant. For
example, in one embodiment, the more fees the merchant pays or the more
financial products the merchant obtains from the financial institution,
the higher the rank the merchant's product will be in the results of the
search, and thus, the closer to the top of the search results the
financial institution will display the merchant's products.

[0092] In some embodiments the results are ranked based on the customer's
current location in relation to the closest merchant. For example, if the
customer is performing the search at her home computer or on her mobile
device, the merchant offer program application 10 uses a
location-determining device, or input from the customer identifying her
location, to determine the physical location of the customer 6. The
offers are then ranked, based on the customer's location, for example, in
order beginning with the closest retail store near the customer's
physical location that carries the product.

[0093] In other embodiments of the invention, the results of the search
are ranked based on the web pages that are being viewed or have been
recently viewed by the customer 6. For example, if the customer had been
searching for a specific product on the websites of various merchants
using the web browser application 20 as previously described, the
merchant offer program application 10 can determine what sites the
customer 6 had been viewing. Thereafter, when the customer 6 uses the
search feature to find offers, the results from the search are ranked
with the merchants the customer 6 had been viewing through the web
browser 20 listed first in the results section 720.

[0094] In some embodiments of the invention, the customer's 6 transaction
history can be used to rank the offers in a way that will make it more
likely for the customer 6 to accept a particular offer. In some
embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application 10
may rank the offers based on the amount of purchases the customer made
with a particular merchant. For example, if the transaction history
indicates that the customer buys a large percentage of her of products
from a first merchant (i.e. Company B) relative to other merchants, the
merchant offer program application 10 may display all of the offers from
the first merchant (i.e. Company B) that relate to the customer's search
near the top of the results section 720. In other embodiments of the
invention, if the customer typically purchases products from a particular
manufacturer, the merchant offer program application 10 may display all
of the merchants who offer the product from that manufacturer first in
the results section 720 of the local search interface 700.

[0095] In other embodiments of the invention, as previously discussed, the
merchant offer program application 10 has a social networking feature
that ranks particular products, merchants, or manufactures. Therefore, in
some embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program application
10 displays the products in the results section 720 based on how other
customers (i.e. who may or may not be similar to the customer 6) rated
the products, merchants, or manufacturers.

[0096] In some embodiments of the invention, the customer 6 may choose how
she wants the offers displayed based on parameters imputed by the
customer 6. The search feature may have inputs in the local search
interface 700 that allow the customer 6 to choose how she wants the
results displayed in the results section 720. In other embodiments, the
customer 6 can log onto the customer's own merchant offer program account
profile and set up preferences related to how the customer 6 wants to
view the results of the search. Examples of the parameters the customers
6 could choose to rank the results of the search include, but are not
limited to, price, merchant, manufacturer, customer rating, etc.

[0097] After the merchant offer program application 10 determines the
offers, based in part on the customer's search terms, and how to rank the
offers, the merchant offer program application 10 communicates with the
local merchant offer program application 11 to display the ranked offers
to the customer, as illustrated in block 610.

[0098] As illustrated in block 612, in some embodiments of the invention,
the customer indicates that she would like to rank the results of the
search in a different order than how the merchant offer program
application 10 determined and/or displayed them. In some embodiments of
the invention the customer 6 selects, for example, to determine and/or
display the results of the search based on price instead of the proximity
of the stores to the customer's physical location. In other embodiments
of the invention, the customer 6 chooses to determine and/or display the
offers based on an assigned score, discounted savings, favorite stores,
etc.

[0099] In some embodiments of the invention the customer might not be able
to find the particular product for which the customer 6 is searching
because the product is out of stock or the service is booked, the product
is too expensive for the customer 6, the product cannot be delivered in
time, etc. In such cases, the merchant offer program application 10
provides the customer 6 the ability to add a particular desired product
to a wish list. The customer's individual wish list, in some embodiments,
has one or more products that have notification alerts attached to them.
The notification alerts inform the merchant offer program application 10
to watch for offers for those specific products, and any discounts
related to them. The customer can also add merchants to the wish list in
order to be notified when a specific merchant is providing discounts to
customers.

[0100] When the merchant offer program application 10 identifies the
availability of a product that is on the customer's wish list, the
merchant offer program application 10 notifies the customer. For example,
the customer can identify a specific product, such as a forty-six inch
TV, and/or a specific price for the product, such as one-thousand
three-hundred (1,300) dollars for the forty-six inch TV. The merchant
offer program application 10 monitors the databases 19 in merchant offer
program system 3, or in some embodiments searches the Internet, for the
product that meets the particular parameters that the customer 6 wants.
The merchant offer program application 10 notifies the customer 6 when
one or more merchants meet the customer's parameters. In other examples,
the customer 6 can identity a specific merchant, such as Company B, or a
specific type of product, such as a flat screen TV, and request that the
merchant offer program application 10 notify the customer when the
merchant is having a sale, or when sales are occurring for that type of
product. In this way the customer 6 does not have to continuously search
for a product. Instead, the customer 6 lets the merchant offer program
application 10 identify the product for the customer 6, and then receives
a notification when the particular product is identified.

[0101] In some embodiments of the invention the customer 6 can be notified
of products, coupons, advertisements, reward cards or points from a
merchant, etc., by the merchant offer program application 10 when the
customer is not even searching the web for a specific offer. The merchant
offer program application 10, in some embodiments, uses the customer's
wish list, or the customer's profile data and transaction history, to
notify the customer when one or more merchants are offering a particular
product in which the customer 6 might be interested. In one embodiment of
the invention, the offers found by the merchant offer program application
10 are sent to the user though various communication channels, such as,
but not limited to e-mail, SMS, text messages, financial institution
statements, on receipts for purchases online or at brick and mortar
institutions, or ATM transactions, etc.

[0102] In some embodiments of the invention, the financial institution can
monitor each customer's savings realized and not realized by using or not
using the merchant offer program application 10. A system and process is
used for determining and displaying to customers 6 the amount of money
saved, including, but not limited to percentages saved, total savings,
what could have been saved, etc. The merchant offer program application
10, either online, though the local merchant offer program application 11
or online banking, or through paper statements, illustrates the amount of
money the user saved or could have saved by using the merchant offer
program application 10 on both a total basis over a specified time
period, as well as on a transaction-by-transaction basis. In other
embodiments of the invention, the amount saved if the customer 6 would
have enrolled in more financial institution products could also be
illustrated online or in paper statements. Also in some embodiments of
the invention, discounts, e-coupons, merchants, etc. can be suggested for
future purchases through the online or paper statements.

[0103] In other embodiments of the invention the merchant offer program
application 10 is accessed though and runs inside one or more of the
account management applications 30, such as an online banking
application. For example, in some embodiments the customer 6 logs onto to
the customer's online banking accounts, and searches for offers through
the online banking account application. The merchant offer program
application 10, acting through the online banking account application,
provides offers, such as discounts, coupons, rebates, rewards, etc. to
the customer 6 as previously discussed. However, in this embodiment the
offers are displayed though the online banking application not through a
separate local merchant offer program application 11 that was downloaded
to the customer computer systems 4. Therefore, in this embodiment, the
customer 6 could use the merchant offer program application 10 on any
computer because the merchant offer program application 10 and local
merchant offer program application 11 are run through an online banking
application and are not tied to a customer's specific computer system 4.

[0104] In one embodiment of the invention the merchant offer program is
used in connection with the online banking application to present offers
to customers 6. Customers 6 can select to add the offers to the
customer's merchant offer program directly within the customer's online
banking account through the online banking application. FIGS. 8A and 8B
illustrate an online banking and customer shopping process 800 in
accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated by
block 802, the online banking application receives customer login
information from a customer 6 when a customer is trying to log into the
online banking application. Thereafter, as illustrated in block 804 the
online banking application authenticates the customer 6 as the proper
customer 6 for the account being accessed and if the customer is
authenticated allows the customer 6 to access the customer's online
banking account. As illustrated by block 806, the online banking
application receives direction from the customer 6 to display the account
details of the customer's debit card account or credit card account. The
online banking application communicates with the merchant offer program
application 10 to identify the offers to display to the customer 6 based
on the customer's account profile, the customer's transaction history,
and/or the customers relationships with merchants and the financial
institution as previously described herein, as illustrated by block 808.
As illustrated by block 810, the online banking application then displays
the online banking account detail transaction and offer interface 900 in
the account details tab 902 and account activity tab 904, in accordance
with an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in FIG. 9.
The transaction and offer interface 900 displays the customer's past
transactions, as well as any offers identified by the merchant offer
program application 10 in the transaction and offer section 910. The
transaction and offer interface 900 displays the transaction date 912,
description 914, type 916, status 918, amount 920, and available balance
922 for the transactions the customer 6 has made using a debit card or a
credit card of the financial institution. The online banking application
displays available offers 928 to the customer under various transactions.
In some embodiment the available offer 928 is listed under a particular
transaction for a company and can be related to the same company, another
company, substitute product, and/or related product. As illustrated in
FIG. 9, for example the customer made a transaction with Company M, and
is offered by the merchant offer program through the online banking
application an offer from Company O.

[0105] As illustrated in block 812 in FIG. 8A, the online banking
application receives direction that the customer 6 wants to view the
details of the offer, for example when the customer selects the link for
the available offer 928. Thereafter, as illustrated in block 814, the
online banking application displays the offer detail section 930 to the
customer 6, as illustrated in FIG. 10. The offer detail section 930, in
some embodiments describes the offer, lists the expiration date if
applicable, and/or describes any purchasing limits on the offer, such as
a minimum purchase limit, etc. The offer detail section 930 has an add
offer button 932, that the customer 6 can select to add the available
offer 928 to the customer's merchant offer program, as illustrated by
block 816 in FIG. 8B. As illustrated by block 818 in FIG. 8B, after
receiving direction to add the available offer 928 to the customer's
merchant offer program the online banking application displays an offer
confirmation 934 to the customer 6 in the offer detail section 930, as
illustrated in FIG. 11.

[0106] After the customer 6 adds the offer to the customer's merchant
offer program, the customer 6 can use the offer at a later date. When the
customer makes a purchase with the customer's debit card or credit card
at the store or online for a product that meets the offer limits the
merchant offer program receives transaction information from the merchant
systems 9, as illustrated by block 820 in FIG. 8B. In some embodiments
the discount is applied directly at the point of sale, either at the
register at the store or online over the Internet. However, in other
embodiments, the customer pays the retail price for the product and then
the offer, such as a discount, rebate, or reward, is applied to the
customer's account by the financial institution at the time of sale or
sometime thereafter. In some embodiments of the invention, the customer 6
can direct to which account the customer 6 wants the discount, rebate, or
reward applied. As illustrated by block 822, the merchant offer system
applies the customer's discount, rebate, or reward to the appropriate
account. In some embodiments, if the limit on the offer is met, such as
the offer is for only a one time purchase, the merchant offer program
application 10 removes the offer from the customer's merchant offer
program, as illustrated by block 824. In some embodiments of the
invention the merchant offer system notifies the customer of the
discount, reward, or rebate at or near the time of purchase by sending a
notification to the merchant through a communication channel, such as but
not limited to text message, phone call, e-mail, etc., as illustrated in
block 826.

[0107] The merchant applications 40, in some embodiments, allow the
merchants to access the merchant offer program application 10 over the
network 2 through the merchant offer program system 3. The merchant offer
program application 10, in some embodiments, has a merchant interface
that the financial institution uses to mange the merchant network by only
allowing access to the merchant interface to specific merchants that the
financial institution has certified for inclusion into the merchant offer
program environment 1. The merchant interface allows a merchant to enter
offers into the merchant offer program application 10 that are available
to all customers 6, groups of customers 6, or individual customers 6
based on customer demographic information. In some embodiments, the
merchant interface also allows a merchant to monitor its offers, such as
the status and success of its offers.

[0108] The financial institution will first determine what merchants to
certify for access to the merchant offer program application 10. In some
embodiments, the merchant must meet quality standards set by the
financial institution before the merchant is certified. In some
embodiments, the quality standards include the financial stability of the
merchant, customer ratings of the merchant, supplier and distributor
ratings of the merchant, product delivery time, payment timeliness, etc.
These factors can be determined by the financial institution through a
number of different channels. For example the merchant financial
stability could be determined from the accounts the merchant has with the
financial institution, other financial institutions, or outside rating
agencies. Customer, supplier, or distributor ratings of the merchant can
be determined from consumer advocacy groups, or other rating
organizations, that the financial institution uses or with which the
financial institution has partnered.

[0109] After the financial institution certifies the merchants for access
to the merchant interface, the financial institution provides the
merchants with user names and passwords or other merchant authentication
mechanisms that allow the merchant to access the merchant interface
through the merchant offer program application 10. Thereafter, the
merchant can access the merchant interface and authenticate that the
financial institution has certified that the merchant can access the
merchant offer program application 10. The authentication mechanisms also
indicate to the financial institution that the current user has authority
to create and/or monitor offers for the particular merchant. The merchant
can then begin to enter offers for the financial institution's customers
6.

[0110] In some embodiments the merchant can create, modify, and control
the offers in the merchant applications 40 and upload the offers to the
merchant offer program application 10. In other embodiments of the
invention the merchant can create the offers directly in the merchant
offer program application 10, through the merchant interface.

[0111] In some embodiments of the invention, when entering offers into the
merchant offer program application 10 the merchant can set various
preferences associated with a product, such as, but not limited to, a
specific price or price range for which the merchant is willing to sell a
product, a discount percentage to offer, identification of products or
types of products to which to apply the offer, how long the offer will be
available to customers, if the offer changes over time, if additional
discounts apply to the product, etc. For example, to name a few, the
merchant may set a particular price for a product, which will gradually
decline in price automatically every month. The merchant may indicate
that an offer is only good for a month. The merchant may also indicate
that a product will have an additional discount if the customer purchases
other products from the merchant at the same time. The merchant may offer
credits or rebates to all the customers who purchase a product, if there
are a specified number of sales of the product.

[0112] In some embodiments of the invention, the merchant can also set
which customer 6 should receive the offers based on customer demographic
information, such as, but not limited to age, geographic location,
customer purchasing history, groups or clubs the customer is associated
with, etc. For example, some offers may apply to all of the customers 6
in the merchant offer program application. However, some offers may only
apply to customers 6 who live in a particular state, region, or other
location. The merchant may limit offers to individual customers 6 who
have spent a specific amount of money with the merchant in the past, or
who have purchased a specific product from the merchant over a specific
time frame. The merchant may also limit certain offers to customers 6 who
are members of an affinity program.

[0113] The offers entered into the merchant offer program application 10
can be provided to customers 6 in real-time, or in other embodiments can
be set to take effect at a later date in the future or not until the
financial institution has approved the offer submitted by the merchant.
The merchant has the ability, in some embodiments, to update the offers
that they entered into the merchant offer program application 10 anytime
to try to influence sales of various products. However, in some
embodiments, some offers may not be able to be changed for a period of
time once they are imputed into the system.

[0114] Since the financial institution is providing a service to its
customers 6 by providing offers to the customers 6 from various
merchants, any merchants who are not providing adequate customer service
reflect negatively on the financial institution. Therefore, not only does
the financial institution have the ability to manage the merchants in the
merchant offer program environment 1 by determining what merchants are
allowed into the merchant offer program environment 1, but they also have
the ability to remove merchants from the merchant offer program
environment 1. In some embodiments, the financial institutions can make
periodic reviews of merchants that have been certified, in order to make
sure the merchants are still financially stable, or have received
positive customer feedback.

[0115] In some embodiments, the merchant interface allows the merchant to
monitor current offers. For example, the merchant interface may create
charts, graphs, tables, and/or other statistics for the merchant and
display these to the merchant when the merchant logs into the merchant
interface. These statistics may relate to particular offers and the
success thereof, such as how often they are displayed to potential
customers, how often they are accepted, the amount of money being made or
discounted, and/or the like. The statistics may also provide an overview
of the success of the overall relationship with the financial institution
and use of the merchant offer program application 10.

[0116] As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art in view of this
disclosure, the present invention may be embodied as an apparatus (e.g.,
a system, computer program product, and/or other device), a method, or a
combination of the foregoing. Accordingly, embodiments of the present
invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an
entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software,
micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware
aspects that may generally be referred to herein as a "system."
Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention may take the form of a
computer program product comprising a computer-usable storage medium
having computer-usable program code/computer-readable instructions
embodied in the medium.

[0117] Any suitable computer-usable or computer-readable medium may be
utilized. The computer usable or computer readable medium may be, for
example but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,
electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device.
More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer-readable
medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one
or more wires; a tangible medium such as a portable computer diskette, a
hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an
erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a compact
disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other tangible optical or magnetic
storage device.

[0118] Computer program code/computer-readable instructions for carrying
out operations of embodiments of the present invention may be written in
an object oriented, scripted or unscripted programming language such as
Java, Pearl, Smalltalk, C++ or the like. However, the computer program
code/computer-readable instructions for carrying out operations of the
invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming
languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming
languages.

[0119] Embodiments of the present invention described above, with
reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods or
apparatuses (the term "apparatus" including systems and computer program
products), will be understood to include that each block of the flowchart
illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the
flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by
computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be
provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose
computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a
particular machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the
processor of the computer or other programmable data processing
apparatus, create mechanisms for implementing the functions/acts
specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

[0120] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a
computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable
data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that
the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an
article of manufacture including instructions, which implement the
function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or
blocks.

[0121] The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a
computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a
series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other
programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such
that the instructions, which execute on the computer or other
programmable apparatus, provide steps for implementing the functions/acts
specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
Alternatively, computer program implemented steps or acts may be combined
with operator or human implemented steps or acts in order to carry out an
embodiment of the invention.

[0122] Specific embodiments of the invention are described herein. Many
modifications and other embodiments of the invention set forth herein
will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which the invention
pertains, having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing
descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be
understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific
embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments and
combinations of embodiments are intended to be included within the scope
of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they
are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of
limitation.